8.9 TALKING ABOUT THE PAST: Regular Verbs

The Preterite tense in Spanish is equivalent to the simple past in English e.g. ‘I wrote’, ‘I spoke’, ‘I ate’, etc. In Spanish however, the regular verbs follow a set pattern depending on whether they are ‘ar’, ‘ir’ or ‘er’ verbs.

The past tense of ‘ir’ verbs

SALIR – To leave

Yo salí – I leftTú saliste – You left (informal)Usted salió – You left (formal)Él/ella salió – He/She left Nosotros/Nosotras salimos – We left Ustedes salieron – You left (plural)Ellos/Ellas salieron – They left

Salí del cine – I left the cinema¿Saliste temprano? – Did you leave early?Él salió de la casa a las ocho de la mañana – He left the house at 8 amNosotros salimos tarde de la oficina – We left the office late Ellas salieron a comer – They went out to eat